Winless Haley says she's not going anywhere
GREENVILLE, S.C. >> There are no wins on the horizon for Nikki Haley.
Those close to the former United Nations ambassador, the last major Republican candidate standing in Donald Trump's path to the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination, are privately bracing for a blowout loss in her home state's primary election in South Carolina on Saturday. And they cannot name a state where she is likely to beat Trump in the coming weeks.
But in an emotional address Tuesday, Haley declared, “I refuse to quit.”
And in an interview, she vowed to stay in the fight against Trump at least until after Super Tuesday's slate of more than a dozen contests March 5 — even if she suffers a big loss in her home state Saturday.
“Ten days after South Carolina, another 20 states vote. I mean, this isn't Russia. We don't want someone to go in and just get 99% of the vote,” Haley told The Associated Press. “What is the rush? Why is everybody so panicked about me having to get out of this race?”
In fact, some Republicans are encouraging Haley to stay in the campaign even if she continues to lose — potentially all the way to the Republican National Convention in July in the event the 77-year-old former president, perhaps the most volatile major party frontrunner in U.S. history, becomes a convicted felon or stumbles into another major scandal.
As Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement presses for her exit, a defiant Haley on Tuesday repeatedly likened Trump to Democratic President Joe Biden — and both as too old, too divisive and too unpopular to be the only options for voters this fall.
She also pushed back when asked if there is any primary state where she can defeat Trump.
“Instead of asking me what states I'm gonna win, why don't we ask how he's gonna win a general election after spending a full year in a courtroom?”
History would suggest Haley has no chance of stopping Trump.
Never before has a Republican lost even the first two primary contests, as Haley has by an average of 21 points, and gone on the win the party's presidential nomination. Polls suggest she is a major underdog in her home state Saturday and in the 16 Super Tuesday contests to follow. And since he announced his first presidential bid in 2015, every effort by a Republican to blunt Trump's rise has failed.
Lest anyone question her commitment, Haley's campaign is spending more than $500,000 on a new television advertising campaign set to begin running Wednesday in Michigan ahead of the state's Feb. 27 primary, according to spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas. At the same time, the AP has obtained Haley's post-South Carolina travel schedule that features 11 separate stops in seven days across Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina and Massachusetts.
The schedule also includes at least 10 highdollar private fundraising events.
Indeed, Haley's expansive base of big- and smalldollar donors is donating at an extraordinary pace despite her underwhelming performance at the polls. That's a reflection of persistent Republican fears about Trump's ability to win over independents and moderate voters in the general election and serious concerns about his turbulent leadership should he return to the White House.
“I'm going to support her up to the convention,” said Republican donor Eric Levine, who co-hosted a New York fundraiser for Haley earlier this month. “We're not prepared to fold our tents and pray at the altar of Donald Trump.”
“There's value in her sticking in and gathering delegates, because if and when he stumbles,” Levine continued, “who knows what happens.”